2.8
Quality3.7
Difficulty29%
Would Retake106
Reviews29%
Would Retake
106
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
17
4
25
3
21
2
14
1
29
What Students Say
“I don't see why she doesn't have a higher rating, she does notes by hand so I found that it was easy to stay engaged and it helped me understand the content a lot better”
CHEM1300 - 4.0 rating“I would really recommend her for chem 1310”
CHEM1310 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
67%
Textbook Required
46%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.76 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEMONE
5.0
(1)CHEMA01
4.0
(2)CHEM1300
3.4
(46)1300
3.0
(2)CHEMISTRY1300
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
1310
4.5
CHEMISTRY1310
4.5
CHEM1111
4.5
CHEM1310
4.0
CHEMCHEM
4.0
Reviews (106)
She is the best chem proff ever, definitely take her class!She cares about the inderstanding of the class and her lectures and examples are awesome!
She is okay to say the least.
She is a really bad prof. She would talk about random things in class that had nothing to do with chemistry causing you to lose track of what was going on. She could never answer anyones questions and was very bad at explaining things when she can answer a question. Try hard not to have her a prof.
She is a really bad prof. She would talk about random things in class that had nothing to do with chemistry causing you to lose track of what was going on. She could not answer anyones questions and was very bad at explaining things when she could answer a question. Try hard not to have her as a prof.
Very good. Great sense of humour. Enjoyed going to class. Funny how the people who don't go to class rate an awesome person poorly.
She is a really good prof and very helpful outside of class.
She knows everything but teaching and gives you everything but points, also evict yawning people with her "great sence of humour", the lectures were totally useless, though i got an A
If you wanna see how to waste your tuition fee, take her class!
She has good examples and notes. But you are best if you read the textbook as she has not clue what she is talking about when you ask her questions. Her favourite line is "I forgot". Waste of time going to her office hours. Read the textbook and notes and you will do ALRIGHT!
Someone altered the grade of terrible reports "just before" the last the lecture, you guys know what are we gonna do on that day, do ya?
I had her for 1300/1310. I really enjoyed her. If you are actually paying attention it's easy to know what's going on. She adds in a bit of science history. I think she sometimes misunderstands questions which is why she gives useless answers--a lot of dumb questions are asked in class (as per 1st yr courses). Excellent examples provided/good notes
I really enjoyed having her as my prof - granted she does like to go on her own little side stories so that may be trying for some peoples' patience. She was very helpful and always available after class.
Dr. Sara she is a very nice proff in the whole entire chemistry department always likes to help to students she makes sure that her student will understand and of course pass the course with a solid mark
She's an amazing prof explains everything properly and speaks clear english and she brought chocolate to class for the whole class favourite prof this term
very good prof. the best in the chem dept. explains everything very clearly!!
Very good prof! Explains very well in class and allows you to visualize things for easier understanding. If you pay attention in class and read your textbook, you'll do well in this course. Speaks clear English and is also helpful.
Good prof. Does not even touch most of the material needed to know for exams. If you just went to her class and listened and took notes, you would fail horribly.
She spends 30 minutes giving useless iClicker questions, then doesn't teach most of the material on the exam. She doesn't give examples and the ones she gives aren't even helpful. Would not recommend this prof.
do not recommend this prof
She just repeats her iclicker questions. She's okay.
First of all the course itself is not easy at all. Having Vakili made things worse. Her writing is brutal and when she does examples her explanations aren't the best but if you spend time outside of class they are understandable. Not the best prof but not the worst
Good prof, the only problem is its hard to read her hand writing during lecture, but nonetheless she OK
Good prof, only problem is that it is hard t read her hand writing during lecture, but nonetheless she's okay.
Adviod this teacher at all costs. READ YOUR TEXTBOOK. Her lectures are VERY UNRELATED to the exam. Not an easy course, so read your textbook. Midterm exam average was 55%. That was after a 9% increase for everybody. You have been warned.
As a guy who has taken AP Chem in high school and finished CHEM 1300 with an A+, Sarah is ONE of the worst chem profs for this section. The reason why I rated textbook use a 5 was because that's the only material you will need. If I hadn't taken AP, I would've failed the midterm due to her lack of information given.
Lectures were too basic while the course was very challenging, didn't prepare us well the for the exams, wasted a lot of time doing useless I clicker questions . I got an A+ in Chem 1300 but was close to failing the midterm. She promised a review session but notified us on D2L an hour and 1/2 before it started; a heads up would have been nice.
Helpful, friendly. Notes could be improved.
make sure you listen to her attentively every lecture and you'll do fine.
This was the worst instructor i ever had. She is horrible at explaining anything and the exams were way beyond the course content.
The professor did her best to teach the course by following the syllabus. However, I strongly believe that she needs to improve her teaching styles.Even the hardest course can be make easier to understand.
She is about the average instructor you could expect at this university.This is not Harvard University, so what did you expect? At any rate, I ended up with A+ in both 1300 and 1310. I am sorry, if you rely on the prof to spoon-feed you, you are not cut for later courses. Course is not hard. I loved both classes!!
Average instructor. The textbook saved me in this class. The notes are way too basic, even for the assignments. She seems like a nice person, but this class seemed way harder than it should have been. However, the fact that I managed to get an A+ must have something to do with her.
I think she is a great prof. She provides you with everything you need for the exams. Her notes can be a little messy but if you just follow along and do the assigned questions you should get at least an A. The marking scheme is quite forgiving.
I like her. Her notes are organized, though her writing can be illegible at times, and she explain concepts quite well. She held my attention in class and is sometimes funny.
She's not a great prof. Her notes are extremely unorganized and she frequently just scribbles in the margin of the printed out notes. She makes a fairly easy course much more difficult than it should be. However if you go to si and read notes from other profs you will be fine.
She's a really nice prof! I had her for 1300 and found her lectures to be really good. If you go see her in person during her office hours, she's super nice and explains things really clearly.
Not a great prof at all. If you're taking chem take it with Xidos or Smirnova. Most other profs are really useless, and her notes did not have anything to do with exam questions.
Terrible prof, useless notes. Made several mistakes during lecture that other students needed to call out. Xidos was in when she was away one lecture and you could see how much better of a prof he is. Read Xidos' notes and copy down her examples and the class is fine. I agree with post below, take chem with Xidos or Smirnova.
Contrary to what a bunch of people have said, I think she's a great prof. Took this course in the summer and was expecting a B since chem isn't my forte but came out with an A. Haven't seen her outside of class but she seems friendly. Read the book when you're confused, go to class, do all your homework and you'll the fine.
I just started this class and I can already tell she's going to be very unorganized. I will be attending lectures but I will be using James Xidos's notes and my textbook to learn..
You cannot rely on her notes to study at all, make sure to do the questions at the back of the textbook or else you will not pass. She is funny, but she teaches at a very basic level that will not prepare you whatsoever for the exams
Quite helpful, but very hard to understand her lectures. her examples are really helpful.
This prof is really good! I enjoyed her lectures a lot and she quite often makes jokes in class. She will stay long after class to answer questions from her students. She is very enthusiastic and makes the lectures enjoyable :)
Found her notes easy to follow when writing, but looking back on the notes they aren't always super clear, but paired with the textbook everything was rather easy to understand... I enjoyed the class itself as she was funny and interacted well with the class.
Worst prof Ive ever had at uni. Final material was not covered in class. Terrible.
She's good. Her notes may look confusing when you want to study them for exams. I suggest you print out the midterm and final exams from D2L and DO THEM! Lectures are nothing like the exams. So do as much past exams as you can because if you don't, you're going to mess up your mark.
One good thing about her is that I don't fall asleep in class because she's so loud, still don't learn anything though. Her notes make no sense and when she does questions in class, she takes forever writing them. I dont get why she doesn't just post the questions up then do them in class. I had to resort using another prof's notes.
CHEM 1300 - got a B ONLY because of my high school chem (as a A student) CHEM 1310 - is tough ( lot of formulas and concepts you need to inside out) Her notes are so basic I question the reason why I'm even in class. You'll do better if (a) you don't have her (b) use the textbook and do PRACTICE questions and ask other profs in chem help centre!
I am a solid B student with the occasional A. With the exception of being sick, I went to all the lectures. Lecture and lecture notes were confusing. I had to teach myself from the textbook. If it were not for attendance I never would have gone. Not worth it. Many questions on exam are much more complicated than in textbook or lecture.
I took CHEM 1300 with Vakili during the summer session. I found her lectures quite helpful, especially all the examples she gave (along with references to textbook practice questions). She is a very approachable person, quite friendly. I would say that extra studying timedoing lots of practice questions is absolutely essential for passing.
Vakili's lecture notes were okay, although the examples provided in class were very similar to many of the questions on the midterm and final. Make sure that you have several pages to write on. Use the textbook!!!
She makes a tough class even tougher. She does not know how to explain difficult concepts.
I took chem1300 and chem1310 with Dr. Sarrah Vakili this summer, and she explained everything very clearly and thoroughly. Her lectures required quite a bit of note-taking, which I found very helpful in furthering my understanding. She is also very friendly and enthusiastic. One of the best professors I have had :)
Great
You need to be there in order to catch the notes (her notes are fill in the blank), but if you miss a class, she's very welcoming and she'll let you take pictures of her copy of the notes. By far the best chemistry prof I've had thus far
She teaches a hard class and she does a terrific job. She tries to keep things light by joking around, and she also gives us opportunities for extra credit in our iClicker section. The assignments are easy and the prof is great. But be prepared to study outside of class.
She is an amazing professor teaching a very hard coarse that is mandatory for many. She makes you feel like a person rather than just the student number.
Barely any iClicker questions & her lectures are a lot more interesting than any other lecture I've attended. I would definitely take this class again! But be forewarned that the course itself isn't easy and it takes a lot of work outside of lectures. Also, be sure to stay on top of your assignments and lab reports, they're important!
Good prof, very easy to understand and clear about important material. Lots of notes to copy down so attendance is required. Overall the material is tough, but she does a good job of preparing her class for the exams.
Though she knows her stuff, she isnt the best at explaining. Recommend reading the textbooks. I skipped nearly all of her lectures and studied the textbook.
Her notes are a hit and miss sometimes. You can print them out, but she writes additional notes in class so it gets kind of confusing reading it after, so make sure you print out your notes with enough room. In terms of explanations and exmaples given in class they are okay. I would definitely reccommed reading the textbook and doing practice exams
Personally don't think her ways of explaining stuff is clear... Just do practice questions if u have her... And she doesn't bump up grades...
Good Professor. She posts incomplete notes in advance and fills them in during lecture - very messy writing but I got used to it. USE THE TEXTBOOK when studying. Provides good examples in class and goes through them in detail. Answers emails quickly. This is a hard class, but she will try to use humor to make lectures better.
A decent professor. Has a loud voice & humour that keep the class awake. The examples she provides and spends too much time working on are too basic and simple. It doesn't prepare you enough for the midterms and the finals. Just read ahead and work on practice problems on the textbook. Be sure to work on the practice midterm and exams they provide.
She is clearly very passionate about chemistry, but that gets in the way of her organization. I needed the textbook to make out what she was trying to teach us. She has a very distinct loud voice, so it is physically impossible to fall asleep, and the hour always flies by. Would recommend her if you can learn from a textbook easily.
Her notes were all over the place and sometimes not clear but she is willing to clarify if asked. I have not touched the textbook once, and the notes were enough to get me my A. She is very friendly and welcoming for students at any time whether in lectures or office hours.
Great Professor, very nice outside of class and always willing to help.
Clear choice if she is available for a course.
She is an engaging lecturer but her notes aren't very clear. The textbook wasn't very helpful either. Didn't give nearly enough examples of types of problems you would actually find on the exam.
Good professor who cares a lot of her students and very responsive. However, the final exam was the hardest exam I've ever had. She explains clearly and her notes should be taken into consideration because what she explains are given in the final exam.
I don't see why she doesn't have a higher rating, she does notes by hand so I found that it was easy to stay engaged and it helped me understand the content a lot better. She tries to make lectures more fun by making cheesy chem jokes which always gave me a laugh, very caring as well so don't be afraid to ask questions.
She was great! Perfect for if you learn better through interaction than someone reading at you. I would really recommend her for chem 1310!
Couldn't tell if it was chemistry or English course Her notes are very wordy for chemistry class, not clear and is everywhere but she's willing to help students if you have lots of free time she is not a bad prof
I failed CHEM 1300 twice (with 2 others profs) before I took it with Vakili. She handwrites all her notes, which really helped me stay engaged with the material and understand it. She explains things very clearly, plus she adds a dose of cheesy chem humour in each class. Solid prof, definitely recommend for anyone who isn't good with chemistry.
Sarrah is super enthusiastic. She has a loud voice that can be heard and understood clearly, this makes is easy to stay alert in class. Notes were easy to follow. This class requires you to put some time into it, but is very manageable. Would recommend this prof, good luck!
it's nice to see a professor who likes to teach and who actually cares about students, unlike most of them in first year chem.
She is intelligent, in line with course. She undetstands many students are not chemistry major. Takes topics steps by step. Entertaining, accommodating, approachable, patient and with integrity. She takes time to do hand written notes, knows it is fairly clear, and lets students point out so she can read them out for clarity. Thumbs up!
She is not a good prof for this course at all!!she teaches so fast and doesnt let students analys what she says,she does not answer questions properly
Sarrah is a nice old lady, with very powerful voice, so you can definitely listen to here lecture clearly in the classroom. She hand write all her note, can be a little wordy, but there a condensed structure note available on UMlearn so you can print it and bring it to class and fill in what she wrote in class. notes are available after class as w
She's funny, awful at teaching though. Does not explain concepts well, I don't see a point in coming to her lectures. The textbook, Wiley, and internet videos have been my teacher, not her. Wish I took another prof
She seems like a very nice person but I had a hard time learning chemistry in her class, I always felt like the concepts being taught were harder than they needed to be. Her notes were also very different from the Wiley textbook we needed so I could never do the questions after lecture because they weren't the same material. Ended up too confused.
Dr. Vakili is a super nice lady, she'd love to see you succeed! Her downside is adding too much supplemental info mixed into the lecture. While studying, highlighting the entire page of notes doesn't help you anything, and she does the equivalent of that in lecture form. Please, skip the story, focus on tough parts, hit them twice with less words:)
OMG..... I have no words to say. I mean her assignments are soooo dumb, don't even get the point of doing it and it's so annoying because it is irrelevant to the course. Also, her exams are just sigh... dumb as well cause I don't get what she is asking on the exam, everyone felt the same and she doesn't know her problem and blames on students.
One of those profs that thinks 1st year students are graduate students that know exactly what she's saying at all times. Likes to cram as many words as possible on each slide (hard to read/know where you are). Enjoys putting too many questions on tests and then gives an unrealistic amount of time; eg: 12 s.a. q's in 40min during a 1.25hour lecture.
Posts assessments weekly that literally take 5-6hrs to complete... And I would consider myself a smart person. Completely ridiculous; we don't have time. Also she the concepts are poorly explained and makes everything harder than it should be to learn. Nice person but awful professor.
The WORST professor I have ever had. Her notes are impossible to read and she gets off on students not being able to read/understand them. She makes everything 50x more difficult then it needs to be. YouTube videos will teach you more than she will. Please never take her classes if possible. People hate her. She's completely awful. Should be let go
In 4 years of university, I can easily say this is the worst professor I ever had. As stated by other reviews, she had an evil smirk on her face every time the whole class was confused. On top of that, she herself never taught me anything. I learned everything through youtube videos, as her notes were incredibly messy and impossible to understand.
Well I have only ever received As or A+s in 3 years at university, but managed to get a C+, despite studying harder for this class than any I have ever taken. Only take this professor if you absolutely have to. She doesnt know how to teach. Dont feel bad if you get a bad grade with her. Trust me its not your fault.
I'm a 4-year student science, so trust me for it. Her lecture notes and recordings are confusing because they don't match, and her notes are simply insufficient to solve quizzes. I felt it was a waste of my money and dropped it, a God's blessing. I warn you, if you think 'I will study, and I'll be alright', then just do it with other professors.
'It's the course, not her'. I get it and I too, agree that if she was teaching GPA boost course, she'd be much better as a prof. But it is her responsibility to teach this course, while most students within that online lecture seemed to be confused about her way of teaching. You won't learn anything much from her but from textbook and khan academy.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. This professor is an absolute mess. she is rude in her responses to emails, changes the way things are graded and contradicts herself. Her quizzes and exams are extremely difficult and you will not get a good grade with her. I will never take a course with her again.
One of the most disorganized chem profs. Her grading criteria is anything but clear. After the final exam she was adding in marks that were not discussed in the syllabus, and contradicted herself about grading of assignments. Quizzes are unreasonably hard, many mistakes in grading, and overall disorganized course set up. I would avoid at all costs.
She is not responsive whatsoever to a students needs. I had to email her at least 5 times before getting a response. She encouraged us to use the discussion forum, but she would not answer. instead of explaining how to answer a question she would just write "Concept B Lecture A". She was not helpful I do not think she enhanced my understanding.
Dr. Vakili wasnt the best professor and also wasnt the worst. She was an okay prof. Her questions are all from textbook questions, lecture example, and previous exams. Do lots of questions and know your basic Pre-Calculus its a pre req. Kinda annoying when someone stops the lecture asking her how to use Log. 1310 is not on the prof, its on you!
The lectures are basically explaining concepts followed by questions. I got the grade I did because I did literally every single practice assignment and assigned text book questions. If you take this class, I encourage you to do the same. For some reason, an A+ was 92% and above during the summer. An A was 82+. Bonus marks on exams.
Sarrah Vakili is one of the worst professors I have had at the U of M. She doesn't reply to emails or have good office hours. Getting ahold of her is impossible so if you need to reach out for clarification, tough. I have had to reach out to other professors and ask to sit in on their classes just to understand what she is talking about.
The worst prof I have ever had. She is impossible to contact, I emailed her 6 times and never received an email back. Her lectures don't teach anything and you would honestly be better off to use read the textbook. Exams are impossible because nothing on them has been taught. If you can take this class with any other prof DO IT.
Impossible to get in touch with, she won't respond to emails which made online learning horrible. Take whatever class you're looking to take with a different prof. All I can say is avoid her.
She was my lab coordinator for CHEM 1300 and she ignored the students in her class and anyone who had questions/problems with regards to the lab portion of the class. She never checked her email.
Take a shot every time she doesn't reply to an email. Skip class, use the textbook.
just finished the semester with her. She seems decent enough but 1)she take ages to reply. 2) I did not understand her lectures, in fact I followed the other section's lectures who switched profs and the next Prof was still better.3) almost couldnt make the in-person labs cause she decided to finally budge when I was utterly helpless
Lectures were fine and she did record them and post her notes after class. It takes an incredibly frustrating amount of time for her to respond to her emails however.
just dont take her. chem is already a hard enough course, but Vakili took that to another level. She wouldnt teach us anything, telling more stories about a magic rock, milk, and some bridges. i left her lecture after the third lecture and went to Kuss and Xidos. take those two if you can.
Came to learn chemistry but was bombarded with history lessons on Chemists and lectures on "fake sciences". Only reason I did well is thanks to other profs who recorded their lectures. After the first lecture, I never attended any of her other lectures.
Class, she tells stories. Often nothing taught, recorded videos are good but lectures are not worth it. Definitely not good in terms of getting a good mark but tries to make class interesting with the stories, not good though.
Too much story time, too little actual teaching. Spent all of our classes doing story time: like a wolf, a rock, and grandfather clock, and the salt store. Please just avoid this prof if you want to succeed. Although this course is much self-taught, this prof was unreliable for providing accurate info or the right answers to her own questions.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
67%
Textbook Required
46%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.76 avg changeRatings by Course
CHEMONE
5.0
(1)CHEMA01
4.0
(2)CHEM1300
3.4
(46)1300
3.0
(2)CHEMISTRY1300
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
1310
4.5
CHEMISTRY1310
4.5
CHEM1111
4.5
CHEM1310
4.0
CHEMCHEM
4.0